a party for my 10 year oldl

10 friends.

10 games.

10 toppings at the ice cream bar.

10 reasons to come and celebrate at Alyssa's 10th birthday party!



10 toppings:  Hot fudge, nuts, coconut, cherries, sprinkles, butterfinger, caramel, M&M's, oreos and whip cream.  Yummo!

Game #1:  Pop the balloon to find out what the next game would be.

Game #2:  Cheeto toss.  Throw Cheetos at the poor girl with the shaving creamed shower cap on.  The team with the most Cheetos that stick wins.

Game #3:  Head Banz

Game #4:  Guess how many candies are in the candy jar.

Game #5:  Rollik (reverse charades)  Definitely a favorite.

Game #6:  Spray bottle squirt.  Pick a category (fruit, candy bars, colors) the one in the middle with the spray bottle thinks of a color and then asks everyone their color and if it is the same one she is thinking she sprays them and then they are it.

Game #7:  Licorice chew.  Who can eat it the fastest without hands.



Game #8:  Cotton ball scoop.  And old favorite from my childhood. 

Game #9:  Sticker Tag.  Each girl has a sheet of stickers and they all run around trying to stick them on each other.  The object of the game is to get rid of all of your stickers and avoid having a sticker stuck on you. 

And here is where my camera stopped working.  So, no pictures of Game #10:  Apples to Apples, no pictures of these cute girls eating their ginormous ice cream sundaes, no pictures of present opening, no more pictures period. 

I was sad x 10!

But, despite my broken camera, I had 10 happy friends and 1 very happy birthday girl.

And that's what really matters.



A perfect 10

Seriously, I cannot remember a more perfect day.  The weather was gorgeous.  It was so peaceful and calm and spiritual.  It was a Sunday.  It was the first day of September.

  It was the day my sweet Alyssa Jane was born.

When they placed her in my arms, my little girl, after 3 boys, I totally cried.  And I didn't stop crying for almost 3 days. 

 She was so sweet and so small and she was mine.

She doesn't make me cry anymore. 

 She makes me smile. 

 She makes me happy and we smile.

This year her birthday was on a Saturday and she requested toaster strudels and chocolate milk for breakfast.  And that's what she got.



It also just so happened that our Orthodontist was having his yearly party for all of his patients at the Scera pool that night.  Free pizza, free soda, free swimming and tons of prizes.  We were all over it.  It was great until the storm rolled in.  We watched the clouds come up over the horizon, they were black and thick and coming fast.  And when it hit, it really hit. 

We hurried home, showered up and then gathered in the family room to continue to celebrate our cute Alyssa. 

She is so good.  She was thrilled with all of her gifts, satisfied with her stormy day, content to be surrounded by her family and just happy to be 10 and to be having a birthday. 

The day she was born was a perfect day.  And now, 10 years later, every day since has been perfect with her in it.  I am so thankful for her.  She brightens my day, she lifts my spirits, she gives and she serves.  She truly is the perfect 10!

Happy Birthday Sweet girl!

economics fair

Third grade is a busy year at the Elementary School.  

We had barely finished the big Invention Convention when it was time to start thinking about the big Economics Fair.  Alyssa had to come up with some "goods" to sell at this big event.  In the past we have done pet rocks, bottle rockets and gummy sea creatures.  Alyssa chose magic water (a water bottle with a punch packet and a straw taped to it), popcorn, and an exciting game.

She gathered her supplies, made her signs, put on her best sales person smile and she was open for business.

 

The kids had all been earning special money from their teacher all month long to spend at the Fair.  

Alyssa had earned a lot.  

It was all very exciting.

This is the best picture I could get of this game.  It is called Verticon and my kids love it.  There are a whole bunch of different balls with different characters on them. (In the real game you get to attach teeny tiny weapons to the balls, but her brothers were afraid the teeny tiny weapons would get lost, so Alyssa had to go with just the balls.)  Her customers picked 2 balls to go to battle.  They put them both in the game, Alyssa flips the switch and they both dance in the air until one of them finally falls out.  The customers would try to guess which one would win.  If they got it right they got a piece of licorice.  This was a hit.  Boys were gathered around playing round after round.  

Alyssa was thrilled.

After all was said and done this little business woman was happy and quite successful, I might add.  She sold out of everything.  She also very much enjoyed doing a little shopping of her own.

 And I love this picture. 

 Just look at that classroom, full, busy, bustling with excited happy kids. Alyssa is lucky.  All my kids are lucky.  They go to a great school where they learn great things.  

And I was lucky to get to spend this fun day with her.  To watch her interact, to see her smile and to do a little shopping myself!

the magic mug

It was time again for the annual 3rd grade Invention Convention.

Let's review:

We have produced some great inventions from within the walls of this home.  We have been the masterminds behind  the "Pea-liminator", the "Super Spider Remover" and the incredible "Everlasting Air Tank."

All very great and successful inventions.

But it was time this year for a little more feminine touch.

Something for the kitchen perhaps. 

Alyssa was up for the challenge.

Her creation:

Introducing The Magic Mug!

This mug is a must have.  It holds the hot chocolate or milk.  It warms the cookies underneath.  It has containers to hold the cookies for dipping, the marshmallows for melting and the spoons for stirring.  It even has a contraption to lower the cookies in and then retrieve them out all sopping and ready to eat without even getting your fingers wet.

Now that is one magnificent mug!

 

It was a hit and I'm sure it will make millions.

And it's a good thing, because we need it!

grass house

A neighbor dumped some left over sod into the back corner of the empty lot on our street one day.

My kids had it sniffed out in about 5 minutes.

They put their little heads together and made a plan.

They recruited some cheap labor.

And a new adventure began.

They were going to make a fort.

 (Does this sound familiar?)

 

They heaved and tugged.

They stacked and laid.

They were serious about this fort.

Serious enough that it took them a couple of hours to complete this masterpiece.

They had grand plans to water it each day. 

 To have picnics on it. 

To even mow it if necessary.

But none of that ever happened.

I think some big kids messed it up the next day and the fort was abandoned, forgotten, left to dry out in the sun.

But, it won't take long for them to find another treasure in that good ole empty lot to create with, I'm sure.

And they better get going because I  heard that the lot has finally sold.

I don't have the heart to tell them just yet.
Maybe tomorrow.

the boxes

I love almost everything about Valentines Day.  I love the cute valentines, the parties, and of course, the candy.  I love heart shaped meatloaf and pink mashed potatoes.  I love my kids excitement and I love focusing on love in our home.  But there is one thing I do not like at all.  And that is making the Valentine boxes.  I don't like the pressure since there usually seems to be a contest involved.  I don't like having to be creative when I really don't want to be.  I don't like that I usually have to make 3 or 4 of them. I just don't like Valentine Boxes.
 Never have and probably never will.

 So,  I thought I was in heaven this year when Alyssa set out to make hers all by herself.  She came up with the idea, gathered her supplies, enlisted her older brother for a little technical help and created this beauty.

I didn't lift a finger to help her and she didn't ask me. 

  And she was proud as can be over this little dog.

Bryson remembered he needed a Valentines box about 20 minutes before school started.  He quickly cut and shaped a cereal box, slapped on a piece of yellow paper, cut out some holes

 and Voila:

The big cheese.  

He left pretty satisfied himself.

I could have kissed Ethan's teacher who sent home a note saying they were making their "envelopes" in class.  

Hallelujah!

And then of course there's Kara.  

Yes, she is a Senior in High School.  

And yes, she is still making Valentines boxes.  She worked on hers for days.  The Student Council was having an old fashioned Valentine exchange and so she created her bookshelf box.  She found different sized boxes, cut and shaped and re-glued them to look like boxes, painted them, and then as only Kara can do added a few details.

Her favorite was her triple combination, complete with ridges on the binding, a ribbon coming out of the top for a bookmark and...

...the glittery pages with tabs.  

 Her kids are going to be so lucky on Valentines Day!

If I was really smart I would just save all of these creations and reuse them through the years.  But, I'm  not that smart and where's the fun in that.  So I will continue to stress and continue to sit back and watch in amazement the creativity of these great kids of mine.

cooties

There are certain parts of my kids' lives that I just don't have a lot of pictures of. School is one of those things. Oh, we have pictures of programs and things, and, of course, the traditional first day, but not of the everyday nitty gritty stuff. The classroom, the teachers, the art work, the halls. So this year when SEP's rolled around I grabbed my camera in hopes of capturing some of the magic of elementary school.

After about 7 tries, Ethan finally had his eyes open enough to OK this picture. He is pointing to his snow globe creation.

Alyssa and some art.

Bryson and all the patriotic things he is learning this year in 5th grade.

And I had to snap a few shots of the Book Fair.

The dreaded book fair.

It is not dreaded to the kids, only to me. I hate the book fair. Now, I love books, I just hate how they parade the kids through the book fair all week tempting them and encouraging them to buy buy buy.

We deposit the kids here while we are in the teacher conferences, and with 3 kids at the school, they have plenty of time to browse. After many years of tears and dragging them out of the book fair bookless, they have learned to not even ask anymore

(I can get the same books for a fraction of the cost on amazon).

But occasionally they bring in their own money and blow it on giant pencils or invisible ink, like Ethan is here.

And so, we survived another parent teacher conference and another book fair with glowing reports for each of our brilliant children, a giant pencil and a picture of the elementary school bathroom.

Now that's the nitty gritty of elementary school.

And I don't know why I even took a picture of this because none of my children have ever used the school bathroom before. They absolutely refuse.

Cooties, I guess!

And cooties now documented!

12 weeks

4 playing soccer

2 playing flag football

1 playing tackle

that equals

56 games

over 100 different practices

multiple carpools

too many half time and after game treats to count

all in a 12 week period.

I am exhausted

and so are they.

Here is a rundown of our fall sports season.

Ethan played on the Cheetahs . He loves soccer. Every day when he woke up he asked me if he had a game that day. He couldn't wait to get out on that field. And when he did, there was no stopping him. Now that it's over he asks me every day how much longer until next season.

It's not soon enough for him.

Alyssa hung up her dance shoes for some cleats this season. She loved it too! She was on the Sparklers and she truly does sparkle when it comes to anything she tries. Soccer was no exception.

She gave it her all whether she was playing goalie or scoring goals on offense. It was a treat to watch her play.

Bryson was on the Vipers. It was a rough season for this first year competition team. They lost every single game. Their last game of the season ended with a score of 0-14.

With that said, I have to say that I have never been more impressed with a group of boys. This little team never gave up; they pushed forward, they showed up to practices, and they worked so hard. And most importantly, they never blamed each other. They were positive and complimentary of their teammates. They were a true team. It is good to win, but it is also important to learn how to lose and to keep going even in adversity. And my Bryce, he never really let it get to him. He kept on kicking and he kept on smiling. I love him.

This goofball managed to successfully play soccer in the midst of football season. The miracle was he only had to miss one soccer game the whole season for football. It seemed he was at practice or a game every single day since August. But he loves it and thrives on it, so we did it. It was a circus picking him up early from soccer with all his football gear in the car and having him frantically change in the backseat before we got to the field. He was so hot and so sweaty and so so stinky... and so was my car.

Brandon was still on the Extreme soccer team but they moved up to triple A this season. They did well. I don't think I will ever get tired of watching him play soccer.

Bryson lucked out with a pretty awesome coach for his flag football team this year. And he also was on a pretty awesome team. This little group of 6 were amazing. They were the smallest team, but each game was filled with touchdowns, pick 6's, and thrilling wins. His love of this game was evident on his face every time he played. It was refreshing to watch.

He also got to play with his cousin Andrew- heaven for Bryce. And with Bryson's speed and Andrew's arm they were unstoppable.

The Tree Huggers banded together for another unforgettable season. They had so much fun. This year they entered the big league where they played against some teams that were all Seniors. Oh, and they had no coach. They were flying solo.

But Tyler and his team team of all Sophmores held their own. They practiced in our backyard almost daily. Tyler had some great catches, touchdowns, and interceptions. He is in his element when he is out there with his friends playing the game he loves so much. I cannot wait to see them next year-watch out Seniors!

This was Brandon's first year playing tackle football. He started practicing in July, early mornings and hot afternoons filled with running, tackling, and drills. He was a little unsure that this was for him....until he played in his first game. And the rest is history. He was in his glory and all the practicing was worth it. This is where he belongs.

He was a starter on defense and the Cavemen made it to the semi-final game. You really have just got to see this little small fry tackle these big ole kids running by. He did, time and time again. I think it's the socks. (at least they made it easy to spot him on the field)

And now it is over.

Finally.

Until basketball season at least.